KickStarter Shroud of the Avatar - Lord British's Not-Ultima Online 2

[Infinitron]

 

[Zep Zepo]

It's what lead me to the Wonders of the Codex after all...

Zep--

 

[buzz]

I wouldn't be too angry about this project failing. It barely got under 5 millions and scope-wise it's one of the most "ambitious". When you get millions and can't make a turn-based game with isometric perspective or a fucking adventure game, that's wrong. But an MMO thingy with third-person view up-close and whatever else this game has, it's harder to do something like that on a limited budget. WoW was made for 4+ years on a 60 millions budget.

Of course, doesn't excuse his choice of making this kind of game in the first place or all the microtransaction shit, anyone who backed this project is a fool. I'm just saying, can't really blame them for the game being buggy and having awkward controls. This really is one of those games that feel teh hard to develop.

 

[Infinitron]

During Dragoncon, Richard Garriott & Starr Long invited me upstairs to talk about both their old and new games, as well as space poop, the death of game consoles, low-fi graphics and the morality police. Details within!

 

[Zep Zepo]

Is Starr Long a pre-op tranny?

Zep--

 

[Zep Zepo]

(Cream – Pressed Rat And Warthog- http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3458764513820556073/ )

Rat Tail and Medal boy have closed down their shop.
They didn't want to, 'twas all they had got.
Selling worn RPGs, recycled shit.
And Rat Tail's collection of dildos and dicks.

Sadly they failed, telling no one goodbye.
Rat Tail wore a long braid, Medal Boy a stupid tie.
Between them they carried a kick-starter sack,
Went straight round to the bank and never came back

The bad Rat Tail madman had ordered their fate.
He laughed and stomped off with a space traveling gate.
The gate turned into a money tree,
And his Kick-Start got funded and they broke into glee.

Rat Tail and Medal boy have closed down their shop.
They didn't want to, 'twas all they had got.
Selling worn RPGs, recycled shit.
And Rat Tail's collection of dildos and dicks.

Zep--

 

[Metro]

This shit had trainwreck written on it from the start. All of the in-game footage I've seen depicts some glorified proof of concept that a few wet-behind-the-ears/entry-level programmers threw together in a couple of weeks. And the sad thing is you could give them another two years and five million dollars and it wouldn't improve.

 

[Azazel]

I'm too lazy to read 66 pages about an obvious POS failure. Has anyone brought up how hilariously they've failed to clone the Ship Citizen "stretch goal" store?

 

[Zep Zepo]

Just sad.

Money grabbers gonna money grab.

Zep--

 

[Zep Zepo]

If the goal is not met, you won't have a boat, "but hey! you can still put it in your yard for your $100 as a decoration"

WTF?

Zep--

 

[Morkar Left]

I don't want to defend Shroud of the Avatar but the writer is most likely a pretentious hipster retard:
- he compares an mmo/multiplayer-title with two single player party-rpgs
- he complains that the pre-alpha is incomplete
- complains that the control system is horribly wrong because a and d keys let your char turn instead of sidestepping. The horror! (even an ridiculous complain without considering it's pre-alpha)
- goes on about what a professional guy he is as a "seasoned games writer, veteran..."
- mentioning the obvious that the gameworld in the pre-alpha is just a skeleton of a world
- and oh surprise, it's a fantasy world. Who would have thought about an ultima inspired rpg!

 

[Zep Zepo]

It's a ultima inspiredmicro-transaction inspired RPG.

That's where your logic fails, Morkar

Zep--

 

[Azazel]

Seeing all these half-baked crapola RPG's from established talent (Wasteland 2 being the notable exception) has me fearing that Unity is basically going to be the Gamebryo 2.0.

 

[Morkar Left]

It's a ultima inspiredmicro-transaction inspired RPG.

That's where your logic fails, Morkar

Zep--

Not really. The writer is a moron. If micro-transactions bother him, he should have wrote about that and how it influences the gameplay. But I guess there are no micro-transactions in the current build?

 

[Dr Tomo]

So found this video interesting and in particular the mmo that they are working on so I then proceeded to read all 67 pages:

• Lord British might have lost it or that he is really a great game designer in the industry (based off the responses on that article in this thread)
  
• It is a hybrid of single/multiplayer
• KS backers are possibly the nobility of this game
  
• People are upset that he needed a KS because he is broke
  Spoiler

  
• That the development team's skills or capabilities of making this game is questionable

So is it different now? Is everyone here actually changed their minds that this isn't going to bomb?

 

[Drakron]

Seeing all these half-baked crapola RPG's from established talent (Wasteland 2 being the notable exception) has me fearing that Unity is basically going to be the Gamebryo 2.0.

No Comrade Azazel, it will be worst.

 

[Aildrik]

I pledged just enough to get into the Alpha. I can say there is definitely a strong focus on housing and crafting which is something that I felt really set Ultima Online apart from most other MMOs. That said, the camera view / graphics engine makes it look like another clone of what is out there right now. I really would have liked to see Garriott take a gamble with doing this game from the isometic top down view that we had in Ultima Online. Maybe give people a greater control over the camera or something. I get the limitations with that view; it is hard to do justice to huge grand structures and whatnot and it is nice to see the sky, but at the same time that view has its benefits and it has always been a hallmark of the Ultima series.

 

[Zep Zepo]

I pledged just enough to get into the Alpha. I can say there is definitely a strong focus on housing and crafting which is something that I felt really set Ultima Online apart from most other MMOs. That said, the camera view / graphics engine makes it look like another clone of what is out there right now. I really would have liked to see Garriott take a gamble with doing this game from the isometic top down view that we had in Ultima Online. Maybe give people a greater control over the camera or something. I get the limitations with that view; it is hard to do justice to huge grand structures and whatnot and it is nice to see the sky, but at the same time that view has its benefits and it has always been a hallmark of the Ultima series.

Finally! Some Codexian admitting to being an alpha tester! (even though..Joined Wednesday , )

What are your feelings on "Real Money" housing (SotA) vs Economy Money housing (UO) (ie chop wood, makes axes, sell to vendor then buy house/boat whatever once you had money generated in game)? (and the other various pay to play/decorate/crafting features).

From what I have observed from alpha youtube videos...it seems the focus of their development NOW is on Real Money Transactions (RMT) and not much else.

Zep--

 

[Infinitron]

Game is now on Steam Greenlight: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=314991368 O_o



EDIT: lol greenlit already

 

[Zep Zepo]

Hope they have fun with their RMT decoration simulator.

Zep--

 

[Infinitron]

Coming to Steam Early Access on November 24th: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=44949

 

[Azazel]

Imagine if, instead of making another shitty pseudo-MMO that wouldn't have been competitive in 2004, Garriot had instead gone 2D and focused on building a super-tight singleplayer experience with deeper mechanics and world systems than those present in Ultima VII.

The only thing this game shows is that he's no longer capable of developing anything original.

 

[set]

I lost interest in this as soon as I saw the first gameplay video. Good thing I never backed this.

As an idea it had potential but you definitely couldn't build anything good with w/ 1M.

 

[Jaesun]

I really hate to say it, but as a MMO...... this actually look very interesting.........

 

[Zep Zepo]

Zep--